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Wednesday, September 23, 2009

AT&T Shows It Gets Twitter (a case study)

I know, I know, this blog is about BANKING and social media. So why am I talking about AT&T? Well, your honor, when I am done I will not only demonstrate that AT&T gets Twitter but I will also show how a bank was involved in the effective use of Twitter to serve customer needs.

Back in May I took a job with a bank. One of my first tasks was to determine the status of pending projects. During the process I found that the bank had entered into a VOIP project with a local telecom consultant and AT&T. There was nothing unusual with the VOIP project other than to what appeared to be a significant implementation delay. After an additional three months of delays the project was still pending. Now I am not saying it was AT&T's fault nor am I saying it was the consultant's fault. I am sure everyone, including the bank, played a part in the delay. However, so many months later, enough was enough and I needed the project wrapped up. After unsuccessfully getting the support needed from AT&T to close out the project, I chose a different approach.

So, having heard that AT&T was social media savvy but not knowing much more, I sent a random tweet into the Twittersphere. I sent the following cry for help:

Surprising, shortly afterward I received the following response:

I obviously immediately followed ATTJohnathon and DM'd him my dilemma.

About an hour later, the project team working on the VOIP project kicked into gear. Emails were flying, plans were being scheduled and people were talking (or at least emailing).

Though AT&T had a situation that could have resulted in reputational harm, it's monitoring of the Twittersphere and prompt response and action resulted in praise in the form of this blog entry.

Now, I'm not saying that this act on AT&T's part makes up for all the delays. It doesn't. It does, however, give AT&T kudos for making available an efficient and effective channel for customer service. So AT&T, kudos for that. Now let's hope ATTJohnathon saves the day and I get my VOIP system up and running soon!